


Baking

by OrionRedde, Shyrstyne



Series: Cometverse [36]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, vanitas makes a friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 11:13:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18849928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrionRedde/pseuds/OrionRedde, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyrstyne/pseuds/Shyrstyne
Summary: Haru needs to get away from the castle for a bit. Good thing Sora's mom doesn't mind some company for her trip to Twilight Town.





	Baking

**Author's Note:**

> Haru gets a little stifled in the castle. He's still trying to get Namine out more consistently. It's a work in progress.

Haru goes to the bar again. Not for any real reason, he just needs to get away from the castle and stretch his legs. He’d asked Naminé if she wanted to come but she had declined, saying she didn’t feel up to talking to people today. That was fair, he supposed, but it was clear that Naminé’s tolerance for extended isolation was much higher than his. 

He hadn’t actually been intending to go to the bar at first. It was only by chance he happen to run into Sora’s mother, who hadn’t even mistook him for Riku, and then started to chat with him animatedly. 

She was a nice lady, he thought, willful and passionate, which matched with the memories Riku had of her. He tried not to rely on those where he could though. He couldn’t help what he was or how he came to be, and he’d made his peace with that, but he  _ could _ help who he would become… and who he wanted to become was his own person, not a shadow made from the memories of someone else. 

So when Soyakaze mentions she was going to make a trip to Twilight Town to visit Comet he thinks “..why not.” He liked Comet, he likes Kaze, and it’ll get him out of town for a while. He doesn’t know why he feels so stifled, beyond just walking the same half-constructed castle walls all the time, but the trip sounds good. 

Kaze seems overjoyed to have him, telling him she was just on her way to the ship now, was there anything he needed to grab? He shakes his head. He doesn’t have much in the way of personal items yet, and the trip is only for the afternoon, so he assures her there’s no need to delay. She walks him to the ship, humming quietly to herself, a basket balanced on her hip. 

They enter the ship and she hands him the basket. 

“I was going to tie it down, but honestly it’s probably more safe with you holding it.” She jokes, and he smiles. She’s likely not even wrong. He takes the passenger seat as she finishes pre-flight checks and then straps in herself. 

“What’s in it?” He asks. There’s a wonderful aroma coming off it that makes an unearned nostalgia rise in his throat. 

“Oh just an assortment of pastries I thought I’d bring for Comet. They’re excellent at cooking but they told me last time we met that they’ve never managed to get the hang of baking so I thought I’d share.”

“I wouldn’t have thought it was that different from regular cooking.” He admits, resisting the urge to peek inside. She sees his longing and gestures for him to go ahead as she starts up the engines. 

“You’re welcome to have one, I made plenty. And yes, it’s similar to cooking… in the sense that you’re working with food. It’s an entirely different beast otherwise though. Given the environment they tell me they grew up in it doesn’t surprise me baking wasn’t a thing they ended up doing much.”

Haru… doesn’t really know anything about how Comet grew up. He hadn’t asked. He doesn’t pry though, instead reaching into the basket to pull out some kind of flaky thing filled with jelly and covered in crystalized sugar. He takes a bite, sending crumbs everywhere. It’s incredibly sweet, and while it’s not bad he can’t help but make a face. He glances at Kaze, who is fighting a grin and utterly unsurprised. 

“Riku doesn’t like these either does he?” He sighs theatrically. He’s made peace with being a replica, but he supposes there are some things that he’s just not going to be able to get away from. She shakes her head. 

“No. Try one of the darker ones with the brown piping, they’re an old recipe of mine. Not quite as sweet.” 

He fishes one out out of the basket and takes a bite. It’s not as sweet as the other one, like she’d said, but rich. Chocolate and almond burst across his tongue. He’s enjoying it so much the memory takes him by surprise. 

He’s sitting at a table, barely big enough to look over it’s edge, anger and hurt roiling in his small chest (he’s never been small), Soyokaze a few feet away, placing some dishes in a sink. She looks younger, and so much bigger than him, fur soft, claws sharp, eyes nothing but welcoming. She towers, but he feels safe. He reaches for another pastry with chubby hands (they’re not his, his hands have never been so tiny), washing down the tears threatening to spill with pieces of chocolate.

Haru blinks tears away, the hurt in the memory hitting him all at once. Kaze glances over at him in worry. 

“Is it bad? You okay kiddo?” She asks, and he wipes away the tears, clearing his throat. 

“I’m fine. You fed these to Riku once. Sometimes I get.. fragments of memories from him.”

“I fed those to him  _ far _ more that once, but I’m guessing you’re remembering something specific.”

He nods. “He was small, and angry. I don’t know why. He’d gone to you for comfort and you fed him these.”

“Ah.” Sighs Kaze. “I remember that. He’d had a fight with his mother. That was a messy couple of days.”

Haru is a little taken aback. “I didn’t know he had a mother.” He has memories of Sora and Kairi, a couple of Kaze, scattered ones of some of the other island kids…… but not a single one of any kind of parent. 

He hadn’t even noticed before, but now that he has it’s.. Odd.

Kaze grunts, something like sadness crossing her face. “Yama is an incredible woman, amazing at her job, a loyal friend… and quite frankly terribly unsuited to being a parent. I did my best to fill in the gaps, and I can’t count the number of times we came to blows over it, but she never could figure out that children, especially young children, needed to be told they’re loved. They’re not going to be able to translate the work you do for them into affection. It didn’t surprise me when Riku never came back.”

Haru chews slowly on the pastry, not sure what to do with this insight into Riku’s past. 

“I’m sorry hun, I probably shouldn’t have dumped that on you. It just gets me steamed sometimes even now. Sometimes I wish she’d just let me take Riku on myself, but she was too stubborn. Anyway, enough about that, try the ones with the flakes, those are a new recipe and I need to bounce it off people.”

He does. They’re delicious. She asks him what he does with his time mostly (hang out with Naminé, read, go for runs early in the morning), he asks her what she’s doing in Radiant Garden (helping with the reconstruction, poking everyone who’s met Sora for stories. She tries poking him for some, but he’s not sure how much he actually wants to tell her about Castle Oblivion, and tries to skim some of the less savory details), and they pass the trip companionably. It feels like it takes barely any time at all before Twilight Town looms before them, and they land on the outskirts of town. 

It’s before noon yet and the bar isn’t open, so Haru is surprised when Comet let’s them in and there’s a boy hunched at the bar. He looks to be about his age appearance-wise, perhaps slightly older. Something about him rings as familiar, but facing away as he was Haru couldn’t say for certain why. 

The boy glances up and freezes like the target of a blizzaga upon seeing them. Haru’s not totally sure why, and at his genuinely confused look the boy relaxes just slightly. 

He looks like Sora, Haru notes distantly. He remembers the others talking about something-

“It’s wonderful to see you, nib. Are we interrupting?” Haru’s train of thought is interrupted as Kaze greets Comet. She rubs a hand across Comets face, noting the stress lines between the scars. 

“No no, not at all.” Comet assures. “Just having some talks. Come on in”

“Hello, I’m Soyokaze, call me Kaze.” Kaze greets the strange boy, who leans away in his seat warily. He glances at Comet as if unsure, and they make a gesture as if to say ‘you want me to do it?’

He looks back at the two of them and then mutters “.. I’m Van.”

“I’m Haru.” He waves but doesn’t move closer. The other kid seems skittish and he doesn’t want to scare him off. Haru takes his previous train of thought, still incomplete, and disregards it. It’s hardly his place to judge someone for who they were supposed to be. Van nods in acknowledgement but that’s all. Kaze takes the basket Haru has been holding for her and hefts it onto the counter.

“I brought snacks! Mostly some old favourites in my family but there’s a few new ones in there too I’d like you to try out.” She says cheerily. Comet blinks at the size of it.

“Thank you, but I could feed a whole village with all that.”

“Well I know you have that boy and his kids, not to mention young Van here.” Kaze grins. “We’ll probably be eating some ourselves too. How is Lea?” Kaze is true to her word and pulls out something covered in powdered sugar as she speaks, popping it into her mouth. Comet follows suit, offering their first one to Van, who declines. Van retreats to a corner booth, not so far he can’t hear, but clearly at a distance. He puts his back to the wall and pretends he’s not watching them.

“He’s good. He’s out with a friend of his and the kids right now. They were gonna talk, sort some old issues out. I’m half tempted to keep the bar closed today in case someone comes back with the shit beaten out of them.”

“Well you’d know everything got hashed out at least then.” Kaze says. Comet snorts.

“I’d still rather not have to shove potions at my boyfriends broken ribs again, thanks. They’re perfectly capable of talking like normal people, but you’d never guess it to look at them.”

Kaze laughs. “Now where’s the fun in that. Fighting over dumb shit was the basis of me and Yama’s friendship. Kids are okay?”

“Yeah they’re fine. Little nervous about this talk today I think though. There’s been a lot of bad blood to work through.”

“I feel that.” Kaze nods seriously.

“What about you? Still empty nesting?” Comet asks, teasing. Kaze huffs.

“ _ Yes. _ The restoration is keeping me busy helping out but.. There’s just something about coming home to an empty house, you know? Leaving the island helped, but even though I would never make Sora stay, he just left home too damn early.”

“Thought about dating?” Comet is only half joking, already suspecting Kaze has a yet-unofficial thing Thing going, and Kaze flicks powdered sugar at them in reponse. Haru decides he’s done with this conversation and moves towards where Van has ensconced himself.

“Hey.”

“..... Hi.” Van eventually replies. Haru motions to the seat.

“Mind if I sit?”

“Knock yourself out.” Haru is somewhat sure he means that literally, but sits anyway.

“How do you know Comet?” It’s not the best conversation starter, but Haru never claimed to be a genius at social interaction.

“They let me stay here.” Van mutters. Haru looks around the bar.

“You live here? Seems nice.”

“....... ‘s okay.” Van says, sounding like he wanted to stop the admission but somehow couldn’t.

“They offered to let me stay here once, but as much as I don’t like the castle I couldn’t leave Naminé behind. And it’s not like the castle is bad, it’s just boring.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Van asks, looking at him with intense and slightly mistrustful eyes.

“I. Uh. I guess I kinda thought that was how people made friends.” Haru stumbles, a flush forming across his cheeks. “Sorry.”

Van looks.. Surprised.

“Wouldn’t know. Never made any.” He says, and Haru shouldn’t be as surprised by that as he is.

“Well.” Haru tries awkwardly. “What about Comet?”

Van sneers. “What about..” He waves a hand, trying to remember the name. “Nami-whatever.”

“Naminé. We didn’t… Our friendship wasn’t formed under the most normal of circumstances.”

“Well there you go then.” Van leans back in his seat, crossing his arms. “It’s different. Doesn’t count.”

“Fair enough.”

They sit in silence for a bit. Haru pulls out the napkin he’d put a few pastries into before slipping away from Comet and Kaze and sets it on the table, pulling one out to eat.

“You can have one if you want.” He says, taking a bite. “They’re really good.”

Van shrugs.

“Not really into the sweet stuff.” 

Haru chuckles. “Me either. I like the almond one though, and that one, it’s dark chocolate with some kind of tart filling? I think it’s raspberry. There’s another one with coconut and fudge but I didn’t grab it.” He points at each of them in turn and is rewarded when Van actually looks interested. He picks up the dark chocolate one, turning it over as if inspecting it. Haru let’s him do so without pushing him.

“How do  _ you _ know Comet?” Van returns his question from earlier. Haru chuckles.

“Friend of a friend, I guess. I kept hearing about them from some people I knew and I came to visit one time. That’s when they offered to let me stay. A while later some mutual acquaintances introduced us for real.”

“You say you have friends but you don’t know how to make them?” Van challenges. Haru is getting a little annoyed with how confrontational he’s being.

“They sorta all came as a package deal with how…. Well some stuff happened, and I don’t know what else I’d call them. Half of them I’m pretty sure would die for me, but we never really hang out much, you know? I’m not sure where that falls on the friend scale. I don’t really have a lot of experience there.” Haru shrugs. He heard Van mutter something like ‘he would’, but isn’t totally sure and knows the comment wasn’t meant for him anyways and lets it go.

“So yeah. I don’t exactly know what I’m doing and I’ll admit that, but I do know you’re being kind of an asshole and that definitely makes it harder.” Haru pops the last bite of his almond pastry into his mouth. Van’s gaze meets his, and Haru see’s a multitude of emotions cross his face, only a fraction of which he can name. Anger, frustration, regret, and for some reason, fear, are only a few he can catch.

“...... Sorry.” The word sounds like pulling teeth. Haru takes it.

“It’s okay. We’ll admit we both suck at this and call it a draw.” To his surprise, Van grins.

“Is it a competition now? Because now I’m going to win.” The grin turns downright cocky. Haru laughs.

“Is that the game then? First one to friendship wins?”

Van snorts. “Well now you’ve just made it sound dumb. I was going to kick your ass and everything.”

“You were going to  _ try _ .” Haru’s grinning now too. 

“How about I kick your ass at something else?”

“No roughhousing in the bar!” Comet interjects from where they’re still talking with Kaze, who looks absolutely delighted. “Take it outside!”

To Haru’s surprise, the formerly surly boy pokes his tongue out at Comet, who does the gesture right back. Van laughs and gets up.

“You wanna race? I know some good spots.”

“Only if you’re ready to lose.” Haru grins wider, caught up in the challenge. Van is similarly getting wrapped up in it.

“Better watch out, I have the home ground.”

“Which will make it all the sweeter when I win.” Haru snipes back. They exit the bar, and Comet shakes their head.

“On the one hand, good he’s getting out and having fun. On the other hand, what is it with teenagers and roughhousing?”

Kaze laughs. “There’s a pair of hotheads if I’ve ever seen them. They’re either going to be worst enemies or best of friends by sundown.”

“Stars willing it’ll be friends. Van needs them.” Comet’s tone goes somber. Kaze nods.

“Haru too. I know he’s got Naminé and of course Sora and the others, but most of them just aren’t around enough for either of them to build a stable social circle. From what I gather it’s just him and Naminé up in that castle with the scientists. And Myde, I suppose, though honestly I don’t know if that really counts either.”

“They still on probation? Making sure everything’s okay with the bodies?” Comet asks. “I know Ienzo was pretty tweaked that we wouldn’t make Roxas and Xion stay so he could keep a better eye on them.”

“I think so, but it should be ending soon I would guess. They have to let them out eventually.”

“I don’t think they’d know where to go. I offered to let Haru stay and of course I’d let Naminé come too, but I don’t know if they’d actually take me up on it. I think they want to stay in the Garden for some reason.”

Kaze hums thoughtfully.

“I  _ have _ been empty-nesting…”

“Mh hm.” Comet just smiles knowingly. Kaze flicks more powdered sugar at them. 

They pass a pleasant afternoon that way, just talking and catching up, sharing stories. They’re just gearing up to saying their goodbyes when Van and Haru stumble through the door, both of them giggling and out of breath.

“Did- did you see? His face?” Haru mime’s something, which Comet thinks might be shock. Van descends into another fit of giggles.

“Done terrorizing the locals?” Comet asks dryly, but there’s a smile on their face. Kaze stands, hefting the empty basket, contents long since transferred to one of Comet’s trays.

“Excellent timing, I was actually about to come find you. We should probably be heading back.” She says, and Haru straightens. He doesn’t pout, too dignified for that, but he does seem like he doesn’t want to go.

“Oh. Uh. Right, okay.” He glances at Van, like he’s not sure what he should do next.

“See ya, I guess.” Van shrugs, posture suddenly closed off again. Haru is a little shocked at how fast it had changed.

“I’d like to come back, hang out sometime. If that’s okay?” He asks. Van blinks at him, like he wasn’t expecting it.

“Um. Yeah, actually. That’d be uh. Really nice.” He mumbles.

“I could bring Naminé. She’s a little shy, but I think she’d like you.” Haru continues. Van shrugs, seeming almost embarrassed at the offer.

“Sure.”

Kaze puts a hand on Haru’s shoulder, nudging him back out the door. “I’ll see you later, Comet! I’ll bring those fritters I talked about next time.”

“You better, you can’t make something sound that delicious and then not deliver. Safe travels.” They wave them out. Van stands by the door as they leave, looking like he’s not sure what to do with his hands and leaves them limp at his sides. Haru gives him a small wave as he’s pushed out the door.

“See ya.”

“Bye.”

And then they’re off. They make it back to the ship before dark and Haru tucks the basket away as Kaze does pre-flight checks. They don’t say much until they’re well into the air and flying away, both tired and nostalgic. They’re about halfway home when Kaze finally speaks.

“Do you know if you’re going to stay in the castle?”

Haru shakes his head. “I don’t think they’d kick us out if we didn’t have anywhere to go, but… I don’t want to. Most of it’s just one big laboratory. I hate it.” He says the last part quietly. He doesn’t like admitting it, it just makes Naminé sad because she knows he stays for her, but the feeling remains all the same.

“If you like, you could stay with me.” Kaze offers. “You don’t have to of course, and I’d be more than happy to take Naminé in too. I just thought I’d put the offer out there.”

Haru bites his lip. He’d turned down a similar offer once before, but in the intervening weeks.. He couldn’t deny he wanted out of the castle more than anything. The Garden itself was fine, but the castle..

“I’ll have to talk to Naminé, but.. I’ll consider it. Thank you.”

Soyokaze grins widely.

“Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> so we pulled a bit of a red herring on you; Comet isn't adopting Haru and Nami.. Kaze is! Not that Comet didn't try, but Kaze is better situated to convince both Haru and Namine to move in with her I think.
> 
> also! because kh plot is a confusing mess sometimes (not even including the changes we've made for this verse lol), no, haru doesn't recognise vanitas. time travel means he doesn't remember when they were on the same team, and after he takes the replica body and gets himself sorted out he's missed the whole ventus/vanitas showdown. He definitely has all the pieces to figure it out, but since van doesn't appear agro at all, he figures figuring it out isn't worth it and just. chooses not to.
> 
> a new slate for them both, so to speak.


End file.
